The present invention relates to a label construction and, more particularly, to a shipping label construction of the type which is useful in sending a container in succession to an outgoing address location and to a return address location. The present invention further relates to a method of using such a label construction to re-label a container after it reaches a first location and before it is sent to a second location.
Several prior art label arrangements have been used to repeatedly re-label containers, such as reusable containers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,858, issued May 13, 1997, to Petrou discloses a label arrangement in which a placard having a release coating on one side is adhesively secured to a container. The placard is transparent. A succession of pressure sensitive adhesive backed labels can be affixed to the placard surface, in dependence upon the changing contents of the container. While facilitating re-labeling a container, the arrangement of the '858 patent is somewhat inconvenient in that labels that are not in use on a container must be stored separately for subsequent use.
One prior art label arrangement used for sending a container to a succession of locations includes a pair of thermally printable labels, backed with a pressure sensitive adhesive coating, and mounted on a strip of release material. A first, longer label, having a portion bearing a silicone coating, is printed with a return address. A second, shorter label is printed with an outgoing address. The first label is adhesively applied to the container, and then the second label is adhesively applied over the silicone coated area of the first label, obscuring the return address. A small part of the release material is die cut and carried with the second label as it is applied to the first label. This release material part is manually engaged when the second label is to be removed from the first label. While this prior art label arrangement has the advantage that the two labels are kept together on the container, nevertheless it does not provide for additional labels that may be useful for receipts, manifest labels, and the like. It is seen, therefore, that there is a need for a labeling system providing greater flexibility.